Google's shift to a new design language across devices

Google wants to get all of the platforms updated to Material Design - the new design language first previewed at Google I/O this year.

Android Wear has been waiting for the Lollipop update for quite some time, after Nexus, Google Play Edition and some OEM (original equipment manufacturers) gained early updates to the new OS update.

The new update will include new Material Design watch-faces and animation. Google launched a new Watch API, for developers and users to upload new watch-faces for their Android Wear device.

Google has also added a new "cinema mode" to Android Wear, allowing the phone’s voice commands to shut down when watching a film. Most Android Wear smartwatches have a built-in voice recognition chip, which can hear voices from across a room.

The Chromecast has received a small design update to fit with the Material Design aesthetic. Google has been slowly optimising performance and adding more third party channels, capable of broadcasting video to the Chromecast.

Hangouts, YouTube and a few other Google apps have been updated with the new Material Design aesthetic. Google is confident in the new approach and Android fans—for the most part—seem to enjoy the new animations and fluid shifts from page to page.

Google added a few new functions to Hangouts—when a person asks “Where are you?” Hangouts will prompt a location share—giving an exact location. Google claims there is more minor tweaks, but wants the community to find them.

Android 5.0.1 has been released a few days ago, offering a plethora of bug-fixes and small updates. Lollipop was one of the largest updates to Android, stepping away from Jelly Bean and KitKat to a new redesign which nearly 5 per cent of Android smartphones now run the new update.